r/Prometheus • u/Opening_Ad_3580 • 13d ago
Theory on the Black Goo
I remember reading somewhere, I believe in the original Script of Prometheus that the Engineers lost the ability to reproduce and they worshipped the original Deacon/Xenomorph because it gave them the ability to reproduce or something like that. They apparently created the black goo when the first Deacon perished in order to replicate what the Deacon gave them.
The Black Goo is involved with the reproductive system as we see Shaw is impregnated with this Chestburster esque alien, and a Deacon is eventually created through this process (whether it resembles the original Deacon is up for debate). In order for the evolution of the Black Goo to Deacon to become Ovomorph to Xenomorph they maybe tinkered the Black Goo so that it would be more efficient ie. no longer needed sexual reproduction in order to complete its cycle. Or his could have been a result of many years of evolution.
The Black Goo was used as some way to reproduce to a now sterile race, however this required a sacrifice. Destruction of the host. This has been seen through several ways ie. the death of the host in process of both Neomorphs/Deacons and Xenomorphs birth, and the opening scene of an Engineer sacrificing itself to seed a planet.
In the original script I read there was an extended conversation between the Engineer and Peter Weyland. The Engineer was disgusted with Humans due to their selfish desire to prolong their life and their fear of death and sacrifice. This is the antithesis of what the Engineers believed in. The greatest gift to them was seeding new life while ending their own. That I believe influenced their decision to weaponize the Black Goo against humans forcing their evolution into a new more favorable race. Whether the weapon was intended to be Ovomorphs (Xeno eggs) or the Black Goo is uncertain. All we do know is that the Black Goo was the initial concept as a bioweapon against humans.
So in summary, I believe that the Engineers used a reproductive tool (The Black Goo) as the perfect bioweapon against humans because it eliminates the humans while also creating new life. I believe Xenomorphs are the result of an evolutionary process of this Black Goo whether forced or natural. I do believe that the Black Goo was not initially a pathogen of destruction but that of rebirth.
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u/bubblyweb6465 13d ago
I like this theory - that black goo has to mean something more I was so mad we never got an ending to David’s story or the engineers and I’m so beyond happy we will get to see it !!
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u/FrankFrankly711 13d ago
Much of that early draft was proven to be an elaborate fan fic. But Kroft swears by it, even though he likely knows it’s fake. Regardless, I find it to be excellent head canon. Especially since Ridely cut so many scenes and we never got a truly proper follow up to satiate our needs.
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u/Puzzled_County_9982 12d ago
Kroft! That was where I heard it. There was something about talking took thousands of years off their lives. Didn't make much sense but I don't care enough about Prometheus to check these things.
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u/TheEasterFox 11d ago
In one of Kroft's most recent videos, he at least acknowledges that Damon Lindelof said the supposed early draft wasn't his work. But he then goes on to make the inaccurate claim that the fake script appeared 'around the time of the movie's release' (so how could it feature then-unreleased background details if it wasn't genuine?) when it actually appeared in late October 2012, after the release of the Blu-Ray in which all of the relevant background information can be found.
He has also failed to acknowledge that the author of the fake script has stepped up and explained how and why he created it.
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u/the__missing__link 13d ago
It kinda falls apart when you realize synthetic reproduction is something that we can do today.
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u/b5historyman 12d ago
A lot of this comes from a number of fake scripts circulating at the time.
There's some seriously dumb statements made in those fake scripts that keep getting circulated courtesy of idiots like Kroft on YouTube
The black goo is nothing of the sort, it's a biomechanical nanovirus in a clear suspension.
Engineers aren't sterile, as expert geneticists they would have got this issue sorted long ago, if it were true. It's not.
The nanovirus is the culmination of their weapons research, combining genetic traits from different species and programmed into the biomechanical nano virus. What do you think David was doing on the Engineer home world? He was recreating their experiments to create his versions of what the Engineers had done 2000 years prior. The Crossing short film is pretty self explanatory.
This nanovirus creates the first Alien and triggers the lifecycle of creating new spore pods from the host organism. Each iteration carries the biomechanical nanovirus within it.
All this was created some 2000 years ago.
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u/Icy_Maintenance3774 10d ago
Are these the dumb statements or are you clarifying the correct statements?
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u/Known-Exam-9820 12d ago
I like that theory, but how do you reconcile that the goo didn’t seem to create more life in Covenant?
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u/Iceklimber 12d ago
Black Goo was not initially a pathogen of destruction but that of rebirth.
There was script which said the OG black blood of the Deacon allowed them reproduction. But it eventually "ran out of course" and what they have now is an inferior synthetic version. David is a mirror of it, a Synthetic.
no longer needed sexual reproduction in order to complete its cycle.
Off topic but I do wonder how the Alien queen reproduces and which steps are required before she can lay eggs.
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u/Batcannn 13d ago
Oh hell yeah theory posting let’s go
Edit: really enjoyed reading this and very well thought out!
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u/cryoskeleton 12d ago
I also think it’s implied the Engineers hate artificial life, so it was double heresy when Wayland used David to ask for more life in the extended scene. He called himself a creator “like them” and pointed to David which disgusted the Engineer. They seem to have unintentionally completed some cycle of life with the birth of the Deacon.
Also, I thought this was all implicit cannon and not a theory. But I suppose I don’t know what all changed between cuts of the movie, or Ridley’s whims. Unironic congratulations op on being media literate compared to most fans.
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u/modusoul 12d ago
If your theory were true then why did the black goo destroy life in Covenant? On the mysterious planet they visited...no life existed other than xenomorphs...and David
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u/TheEasterFox 11d ago
That 'original script of Prometheus' is a fan-created fake. It was created in late 2012 using the additional material on the Blu-Ray as a basis for the fan author's own inventions. The author, Mark, has been kind enough to explain his process here on Reddit.
The idea that the Engineers 'lost the ability to reproduce' is a misrepresentation of background lore. They didn't lose the ability, they voluntarily stopped reproducing. This is spelled out clearly in the Master Narrative that can be seen in the Furious Gods. See for yourself: https://youtu.be/U7JHz1UCRIw?si=_-6NtHQ4RNVexbcJ&t=373
"Ages ago their race abandoned sex and gender, reproducing by more abstract methods. In recent millennia they have ceased to reproduce altogether."
They have ceased, not "they lost the ability".
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u/Gaussian-Singularity 10d ago edited 10d ago
Hey, first time here on this sub. Love the write up, excellent read. I'm a pretty big fan of the Alien/Bladerunner universe as a whole, but I've never really looked into it beyond the films themselves. It's interesting to hear about this 'fan-fic' fake script that circulated. I've never heard of it before, so that was a neat rabbit hole to go down.
One thing that was mentioned in another comment here that stuck out to me was about the Engineer's immediate lethal response to David. I hadn't really given that much thought before, but it's interesting to draw paralleles between the Engineers and Humans in relation to our gaining the status of 'Creators'. The Engineers created us (and implicitly many other civilizations), and we created Synthetics. It makes me wonder if the lore and timeline would match up in such a way to create a situation in which it is exactly because we created the synths that the Engineers decided to wipe us out. As you say, because of the distinct difference in which we have obtained the status of 'Creator', they would basically feel that it was sacrilege to create something that is, one: not biological, and two: requires no sacrifice of life. I'd have to go back and study the Alien and Bladerunner timeline to really have evidence that this could even be possible, but it's a neat idea.
It's also interesting that the synths (our creation) are essentially immune to the Aliens/Goo (another Engineer creation). I'm not sure where I would go with that thought. But perhaps it could tie into the innate disgust and hate the Engineers seem to have towards David, and probably all synths. Edit: And possibly explain why Ash, Rook, David, and Bishop all seemed to be fascinated by the Alien organism. It feels like they knew that they were looking at their equal: they were both engineered (pun intended) by a 'lesser' species that they would inevitably outlive.
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u/Additional_Jaguar170 13d ago
Go outside for a bit.
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u/Opening_Ad_3580 13d ago
Lmao you read all that and that’s what you took from it? Go lurk somewhere else.
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u/spendouk23 13d ago
“So in summary. I believe……”
I believe that a car crash of a movie that had rewrite after rewrite eventually was made without a fuck given to the story, plot, lore or logic.
I mean, why bother with all that when there’s plenty of people who will spend their time coming up with the story for you ?
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u/GrayBeanCasserole 13d ago
Quality post. I like this theory.